Ethics Commission Jumps In

The state Ethics Commission will investigate the Spitzer Administration’s use of State Police to create travel records that tracked Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno’s movements during trips to New York City, the Associated Press is reporting.

The Commission, which has subpoena power, sent a letter to Attorney General Andrew Cuomo seeking interview transcripts, notes, e-mail and other material from Cuomo’s investigation of the matter, according to a report by AP and confirmed for me by Commission spokesman Walter Ayres.

This marks the second official probe into what is alternately being called Troopergate or Spitzergate, and there may be more to come.

On Monday, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo released a critical report that concluded top Spitzer officials engaged in unethical behavior when they got State Police to re-create Bruno’s travel logs.

That got members of the Senate’s Committee on Investigations to say they are looking at a possible probe of their own and on Wednesday, Bruno said he or his fellow Senate Republicans might ask the State Commission on Investigations to get involved as well.

There are a couple of things to keep in mind with the Ethics Commission, say some longtime Capitol hands. For one thing, the agency’s new boss, John Feerick was hired by Spitzer, as was Inspector General Kristine Hamann.

Hamann looked into Troopergate as well but the IG chose not to issue a report, instead, concurring with the AG’s findings on Monday. That got some people wondering how hard Hamann, hired by the governor, was willing to come down on his administration. Watch for similar rumblings about the Ethics Commission, especially if it goes easy on Spitzer’s role in this quickly evolving affair.